A partial tear of the medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle and tendon.
Not entirely shocking. That pop I heard twice this summer? A symptom of such an injury. One of the causes? Overuse. No wonder it wasn't getting and staying better this summer.
My PT said that while I still need to speak with my doc about these results, she doesn't plan to alter our course of therapy. She made me nervous about her knowledge the first day I met her, but since then, I've come to respect her ability. She HURT me Day 1 with the Graston technique work she did, and she bruises me every time I'm there, but I get the sense that the scar tissue/knotty stuff is breaking up. 
She uses these metal/stainless steel/whatever butter-knife-without-a-blade things, and literally scrapes (no blade) up and down the muscles of my lower leg. Like rubbing a metal ruler across your muscles and shin. Holy Moly I've never felt something so painful.
It makes me squirm. I sweat through my shirt and shorts. I beg her, silently, to stop. But she keeps working it and working it, and believe it or not, I do get the sense it's breaking up the bad stuff.
After the PT strengthening exercises, the stretching she does to me, and the Graston, she sticks 3 small, rectangular electric pads to my leg and for 10-15 minutes, my leg jumps up and down as the heartbeat of electric stimultion increases the blood flow to my damaged muscles.
The bruises are colorful, the swelling lingers, and icing doesn't seem to do much. But hopefully all of this, plus the time off from running, WILL do lots. I hope it brings me back stronger and smarter. I hope it lets me run for the rest of my life.
6 comments:
Yikes! I've had ART and graston done and both hurt! But they work. Hope the calf heals. It sucks being injured :-(
OMG I just keep saying it: this sucks soooo much. Holy cr*p I cannot wait for you to be able to run again.
Yike squared! That scares me thinking about it let alone feeling it!! The positioning of the tear explains why it has lingered so long. Ouch. I so hope you get better soon. And I hear you on the d@mn elliptical. It bores me to tears and makes my feet numb too.
BTW - forgot to mention - be careful with the elliptical. It is lesser impact, but closely imitates running and can often (and does often) worsen injuries. I have a poor friend who has been out for a YEAR since her first doc cleared her on elliptical. Second doc nixed it and she is finally doing much better. Food for thought.
Ouch ouch ouch!! Get better soon!!!!!
Thank you so much for blogging about this. I just had it done yesterday and could not for the life of me remember what it was called. I wanted to google it to make sure it was reputable. I literally googled "rub metal across leg" and found your post. I hope you're better and thanks again!
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